David Woodhead

Immersed in the world of independent music-making from the start, David Woodhead has had a truly wide-ranging and dynamic career, evolving a distinctive melodic and textural approach that he can mold to fit almost any situation.

You’ve probably seen David’s name listed on the backs of recordings in your collection and, yes, he’s on some 300 projects and worked with many influential artists including Perth County Conspiracy, Stan Rogers, Oliver Schroer, Gil Scott-Heron, and David Sanborn. His live gigs have included working with Malagasy guitarist Donné Roberts (a recent Juno nominee), classical-folk fusioneers Ensemble Polaris and veteran jazzers Manteca, as well as touring internationally with master songwriter James Keelaghan. David has done instruction at the Folk Alliance International conference (Kansas City), Haliburton Winter Folk Camp, the Goderich Celtic College and Ontario’s The Woods. He’s been an invited guest improvisor at Arraymusic and Casey Sokol’s improv soirées at York University, and done a Music Residency at the Banff Centre, working on music which led to his most recent Confabulation CD, Tunnels and Visions. Recently he’s been taking part in various events involving Quebecois and Balfolk (European folk dance) music, playing tenor banjo and mandolin.

His own music draws from the intimacy of the folk world, the harmonic sensibilites of jazz, and a sense of precision from classical arranging, with room for freedom in individual expression and improvisation. David’s Confabulation ensemble has a somewhat exotic and rambunctious nature, while the more recent Oriana Quartet is focused on taking a folk-jazz chamber music approach.